Sumita Vijayan, a Kerala-born resident of UAE, got calls from her friends, colleagues and relatives on Tuesday morning after they saw her picture in different Indian newspapers.

Sumita was being identified as Sumita Vijyan, the pilot from Hyderabad who died in a helicopter crash in Jammu on Monday afternoon.

“I had recently visited Delhi. All my dear ones called me and were panic-stricken,” the living Sumita Vijayan told Mail Today over an email.

Wrongly identified: Sumita Vijayan's picture was splashed across the media announcing her 'death'

She said all her relatives and friends in India thought the news was true as they could have linked it with her recent trip to Delhi.

“Unfortunately for me I did travel to Delhi recently... so they almost believed that when they saw my picture,” she said.

With pictures showing her as the dead pilot, Sumita vented her angst on Facebook on Tuesday saying: “Dear all, please do not be overwhelmed with the rubbish by media!! I m very much alive and breathing!! (sic)”.

Sumita is from Kerala and was brought up in Mumbai before moving to Dubai, where she has been settled for the past 15 years.

She says she has little association with flying.

“My father was an employee with Indian Airlines engineering wing, and that is all,” she said.

Sumita is now seeking an apology from all media outlets which downloaded her photographs from Facebook.

She says she will sue the outlets if they fail to apologise.

“How come the media publishes my picture passing me off as a dead pilot, and how come the media does it without verifying facts?” she asked.

On Tuesday, seven people including a female pilot, a newly-wed couple, and a five year-old were killed in a helicopter crash in Katra, the base camp of the Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu.

A private airliner’s chopper was carrying the pilgrims from Sanjichat helipad in Trikuta hills before it crashed in the new bus stand area in Katra.